January 20, 2019

As July turned to August, the 1965 Twins found themselves with a five-game lead in the American League heading into an Aug. 2 matchup against a good Baltimore Orioles team, according to Cool Of The Evening, a book by Jim Thielman about that pennant-winning season for the Twins. But rather than wait and let a rookie pitcher... Continue Reading »

December 24, 2018

A decade after Cookie Lavagetto suspected the New York Giants were up to no good during the 1951 season — and was later famously captured on film sitting next to a bawling Ralph Branca after that history-making October loss — Lavagetto found himself in Minnesota, manager of a newly relocated team called the Twins. During... Continue Reading »

December 9, 2018

In October 1951 Bobby Thomson hit baseball’s most famous three-run home run, a blast that capped an amazing come-from-behind season that finally erased a season-long lead by the Brooklyn Dodgers and propelled the New York Giants into the World Series. The home run is so famous that it has almost completely obscured the fact that... Continue Reading »

May 3, 2017

Sam Mele, the second manager in the history of the Minnesota Twins and who guided the team into the 1965 World Series, died Monday, according to various reports. Mele, who spent 10 years as a player in the majors, replaced manager Cookie Lavagetto during the 1961 season, the Twins’ first after previously being known as... Continue Reading »

January 23, 2017

Sam Mele, who won more than 500 games as manager of the Twins in the 1960s and guided them to the World Series in 1965, turned 95 on Saturday. Mele was born Jan. 21, 1922 in Astoria, New York. Before managing the Twins, Mele spent 10 seasons in the majors as a player, playing both... Continue Reading »

February 15, 2016

Long before Ron Gardenhire managed the Twins to six division titles between 2002 and 2014, Gardenhire — like a lot of big league skippers — had a brief career as a player. If you’d like to see Gardenhire in action as a second baseman for the New York Mets — the team he spent five... Continue Reading »

January 18, 2016

Sam Mele, who won 524 games as manager of the Twins from 1961 to 1967, will celebrate his 94th birthday on Thursday. Mele’s tenure with the Twins wasn’t long, but after the Washington Senators relocated to Minnesota for the 1961 season, it also wasn’t long before the Twins showed improvement. Under Mele, the Twins won... Continue Reading »

December 30, 2015

When one thinks of Billy Martin, synonymous with the New York Yankees as a player and manager, this image doesn’t come to mind: The Martins’ Richfield neighborhood had big, old maple trees and was close to the Twins’ ballpark in Bloomington. There was a backyard for Billy Joe — Gretchen called him B.J. — and... Continue Reading »

November 18, 2015

A day after Twins designated hitter Miguel Sano finished third in AL Rookie of the Year voting, Twins Manager Paul Molitor was handed the same result. The winner of the AL Manager of the Year award went to Jeff Banister of the Texas Rangers, according to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. A.J. Hinch of... Continue Reading »

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone and I love the Twins.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.